222 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
MENKEA. 
Lehmann , Index Sem. Sort . Hamburg . 1843, p. 8. 
Sepals equal at the base. Petals oblong-obovate, entire. Stamens free, without teeth. Stigmas 
united, subsessile. Silicles orbicular- or obovate-elliptical, flat or slightly turgid. Valves one-nerved, 
deciduous. Septum obliterated. Funicles mostly elongated. Replum persistent. Seeds numerous, 
almost quadriseriate, without a border. Cotyledons incumbent. 
Annual herbs, restricted to the extratropical desert-tracts of Continental Australia. Leaves 
entire or the lower ones toothed. Pedicels racemose, bractless. Flowers very small. Petals white.— 
Bunge , inLehm. Plant Preiss. i. 259. 
A genus allied to Stenopetalum and more particularly to Capsella. 
Menkea prooumbens, F. M. Fragm. Phytogr. Austr. ii. 142 5 Stenopetalum procumbent Hook. 
Icon. Plant. 610. 
Leaves spathulate- or cuneate-oblong; silicles shorter than the pedicel or hardly as long, ovate or 
elliptical, slightly turgid. 
In the Murray desert. Found also near the Darling River and in South-Western Australia. 
A small glabrous herb of great resemblance to Capsella elliptica. Root pallid, slender, filiform, 
descending, flexuose, almost simple. Stems filiform, from 2 inches to nearly a span long, several from each 
root, spreading. Leaves 2-6 lines long, the lower ones occasionally with a few teeth. Pedicels when flower¬ 
bearing very short, when fruit-bearing 2-4 lines long, capillary. Sepals oblong, somewhat shorter than the 
corolla, about J line long, reddish. Petals white, rather narrow. Anther’s very minute, yellowish. Stigmas 
exceedingly small. Silicle usually ovate, about 2 lines long, strongly compressed. Valves membranous, 
finely veined. Funicles extremely tender, J-J line long. Seeds numerous, roundish, fulvous, about l line 
long. 
Menkea Australis (Lehm. 1. c.; Stenopetalum draboides, Hook. Icon. 617) differs principally in the 
shortness of the pedicels, which are in length much exceeded by the silicles, the latter being moreover larger 
and of a more oblong form. 
Capsella antipoda — p . 44. 
Found on the plains near Carisbrook by the Rev. W. Whan. 
Lepidium ruderale — p . 45. 
A variety with spinescent branches was discovered near Skipton by the Rev. W. Whan. 
Lepidium papillosum— p . 46. 
Radical leaves pinnatifid. Mr. A. Oldfield brought from the vicinity of the Murchison River, in IV. 
Australia, a downy variety, further remarkable for the wide terminal sinus of the capsule. 
Lepidium monoplocoides— p . 47. 
Noticed also in the Darling Desert. 
Lepidium leptopetalum— p . 48. 
From this species the Iberis linearifolia proves distinct, forming only a variety of Lepidium rotundum 
(Cand. Syst. ii. 537; Hook. Icon. 609), standing therefore nearer to L. phlebopetalum. 
